Not even a condemnation? If those were Israeli jets attacking, the Security Council would already be in session. For that matter, if Israeli troops were anywhere in the region and someone else's forces got through, Israel would be condemned.

In Ramallah, Palestinian officials blasted the Syrian government for the attack.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the crime of Assad's regime in
Yarmouk refugee camp, and call on all international parties, including
the states that still back this regime, to act immediately and stop
these massacres against Syrians and Palestinians in Syria," PLO official
Yasser Abed Rabbo told the AP.

So where are all the 'Palestinian activists'? Where are the rest of the Arab countries and the Arab League? Where, for that matter, is Abu Mazen? Could it be that since it's only Muslims killing Muslims, no one gives a damn?

What's the Equivalence of Outrage Ratio? When the Iranians and Iraqis killed at least a million of themselves in the Iraq-Iran War in the 80's, it resulted in less international outrage and UN semantic gamesmanship (until Western oil tankers were threatened) than that resulting from the 1,000 or so Gazans killed by recent Israel's defensive air campaign. So, you could say from that example, generally speaking it's a 1,000/1 Equivalence of Outrage Ratio.

Currently, the Assad regime has by public news estimates slaughtered at least 100,000 of it's own people in the last year, combating the Syrian rebels. The Arab response is, shall we say, muted, when compared to their response to Israel's defensive campaign against the Second Intifada.

I guess the world's response is understandable, if not extremely moral, tacit realpolitik: the Arab barbarians are just doing what barbarians always do. As long as they're only doing it to each other, it's at least self-contained, not requiring risky, expensive action from the 'civilized part of the world community'. That only offends me when what passes for this civilized part presumes to harshly criticize Israel for having the temerity to defend itself.

I was really struck by a short article Carl linked recently. The Israeli armaments company that manufactures Iron Dome exhibited it at the recent annual armaments show in Paris, with no serious inquiries from any country. When the company discretely asked the major buying countries why nobody was interested, they were told that only Israel had a need for such a defensive system. Any other Western country so attacked would simply send in their Army, destroy the enemy and to hell with any collateral consequences. Now if Israel had gone into Gaza and done that, which it was certainly morally entitled to do...

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About Me

I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-three years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 11 to 31 years and seven grandchildren. Three of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com